She stood before him, her heart pounding with apprehension.
‘What is he going to do?’
Hotte watched the wariness and trepidation in her eyes with great interest.
With one long arm, he pulled her over and sat her down on his thigh.
“Ah!” Cheng Xi cried out, plopped down awkwardly from the sudden pull.
Then, a large hand pressed down on the top of her head.
Her glossy black hair slipped through his fingers, and the silky texture brought a look of surprise to the male’s eyes.
He couldn’t resist running his fingers through it a few more times.
Perhaps it was his first time touching something so smooth, because he didn’t control his strength, and a few broken strands were left tangled in his fingers.
Cheng Xi felt a slight, sharp pain at her roots and couldn’t help but cry out.
She quickly snatched her hair back from his grasp and scrambled a short distance away.
“What are you doing?!” She glared at him, her eyes a mixture of accusation and anger.
‘She had the sudden urge to curse him out.
For the past month, it had always been female Aliens taking care of her.
This was her first time interacting with a male Alien, and she never expected him to be so rough!’
‘Who touches hair like that?
A little more force and she’d be bald!’
“…” Hotte stared silently at the few broken strands wrapped around his fingers.
He clearly hadn’t expected it to be so fragile.
‘Looks like he’d made his new pet angry.’
Looking at the human pet who had scrambled away, he beckoned again.
“Come here. I won’t hurt you this time.”
To Cheng Xi, his low, rich, and deep voice was full of power and masculine charm.
His appearance also happened to match her tastes perfectly.
‘But you only get one chance to earn someone’s trust!’
Cheng Xi shook her head and instead retreated a few more steps, her eyes filled with nothing but vigilance and caution.
Hotte helplessly clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“Disobedient?”
‘So annoying!
What is he even saying?!’
The incomprehensible language was about to drive Cheng Xi mad.
“What are you saying?! I can’t understand you!” She felt completely helpless.
‘She felt like a little stray cat, wary of any human who got too close.
She had no idea if the creature approaching her meant well or ill.’
In her frustration, Cheng Xi completely missed the glimmer in his eyes after she finished speaking.
Hotte finally remembered that he’d forgotten to give his new pet the translator.
‘No wonder she’s being disobedient.’
He rummaged around in his Space Bracelet and finally found a dusty translator in a corner.
He took it out and blew off the non-existent dust.
In Cheng Xi’s eyes, however, it looked as if an object had just materialized in his hand.
‘Her whole expression changed.
He could pull things out of thin air?
Wasn’t this some kind of magic?’
‘I thought supernatural stuff wasn’t allowed in the modern era!
I guess that rule only applies to species from Earth, huh!’
‘What gave her an even worse feeling was that the thing he was holding looked like…
a collar?’
‘He’s not going to make me wear that, is he?’
As if to confirm her suspicions, Hotte walked toward her with the collar in hand.
For some reason, Cheng Xi was inexplicably reminded of Sun Wukong’s golden fillet.
‘This thing isn’t some kind of control device, is it?’
Fear surged through her at the thought.
Not wanting to wear the collar, she turned and bolted just as he was about to reach her.
The bedroom was enormous.
If it weren’t for the massive bed, she would have mistaken it for some kind of activity room.
Panicked, she ran for the door.
‘I have to escape!’
She reached the door in just a few steps, but there was no handle.
She couldn’t open it!!!
Cheng Xi slumped against the door in despair.
Suddenly, she heard a chuckle from behind her.
“Quite lively, aren’t you?”
Hotte watched her antics with an amused smile.
He’d seen plenty of human pets before, and most of them were distant, cautious, defensive, or simply numb.
He never expected the one his big brother sent him would be so spirited.
‘Trying to escape but unable to open the door…
her angry little expression really makes my hands itch~’
Seeing the Alien seemingly laughing at her, Cheng Xi couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
As he took a step forward, she took a step back, and the two of them began to circle each other in the room.
‘For some reason, Cheng Xi felt like she was being teased.
Bullying her with a collar—isn’t that what a little hooligan would do?!’
Feeling like she was being played with, Cheng Xi’s face flushed with anger.
But she had no rights and no way to resist, leaving her with only helplessness.
Finally, Hotte decided he’d had enough fun.
He suddenly sped up, and before Cheng Xi could process it, her vision blurred, and she was already pinned in a corner.
A scorching hot body pressed domineeringly against hers.
The sudden source of heat made her freeze, unable to react until she felt a weight settle on her neck.
The collar was now on her neck.
She almost immediately tried to rip it off.
“Don’t move. It’s a translator.”
The voice came from above her.
Cheng Xi’s hands, which had been grabbing at the collar, froze, and she looked up in astonishment.
‘Wait, did I just understand him?’
Seeing the surprise in his little pet’s eyes, Hotte’s lips curled into a slight smile.
“This is a translator specially made for humans.
From now on, you’ll be able to understand every word your master—me—says.”
“However, this translator is one-way.
You can only understand my language; you can’t use it to communicate back to me.”
Cheng Xi understood.
‘So that’s how it is.’
‘It seems so high-tech.’
“Do you understand me now? If you do, nod your head.”
Cheng Xi was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Hotte’s lips curled up at the corners again.
“Very good. From this day on, I am your master, and this is your home. As long as you’re obedient, I won’t treat you poorly. Of course, a little mischief now and then is fine too.”
Cheng Xi nodded again.
‘It’s so amazing.’ She was desperate to find a mirror and see the collar.
He was speaking a strange language, but the translator received it and automatically converted it into Mandarin.
The translated voice was pitched neither too high nor too low, just right for her to hear clearly without being grating.
‘How does it do that?
And for it to translate into such perfect Mandarin…
does that mean they’ve already cracked all human languages?’
‘The deeper she thought about it, the more terrifying the implications were!’
Cheng Xi couldn’t help but look up with a complex expression.
It was only now, as she looked up, that she realized…
‘Isn’t this master of hers a little too tall?!’
‘She couldn’t even reach his shoulder.
She was about five-foot-six herself, but she estimated he had to be at least six-foot-three…
or maybe even six-foot-seven?’
‘Gods!’
Thinking back, the two Lady Rabbits who had been with her this afternoon also seemed to be over five-foot-eleven.
If it weren’t for their white maid outfits and distinctly female figures, she might have mistaken them for men.
‘She really wanted to know what they ate to get so tall.’
Cheng Xi felt a brief moment of gloom before she suddenly realized she was feeling a bit hot.
The source of the heat was the body in front of her.
While they weren’t pressed as close as when he’d put the collar on her, they were still too close—only about a forearm’s length apart.
She shifted two steps to the side, feeling uncomfortable.
The pressure was just too much.
After putting some distance between them, she let out a soft breath.
‘You really can’t judge Aliens by normal standards.’ His body temperature had to be at least 104 degrees.
He was like a walking miniature sun.